


About a Girl

by Wake_The_Dragon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Astoria Greengrass Is Amused, De-Aged Daphne Greengrass, F/M, Fluff, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Humor, Protective Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27978006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wake_The_Dragon/pseuds/Wake_The_Dragon
Summary: Eighth year; de-aging. After a joke has unintended side-effects, Harry ends up helping to take care of an effected Daphne Greengrass. And finds himself unexpectedly missing the normal Daphne.
Relationships: Daphne Greengrass/Harry Potter
Comments: 42
Kudos: 152





	1. Why. Just why?

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Harry Potter. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

“Potter, do you have an extra quill,” asked Daphne Greengrass from the seat next to him that she’d taken in their DADA class. Since the start of eighth year, the professors had been making a point of integrating the Slytherins among the other houses during classes. He’d been half-expecting it to blow up in all their faces, but so far it’d been weirdly successful in that there had been a decrease in hexes and jinxes thrown at the Slytherins, especially those in eighth and seventh years.

The fact that it was a problem wasn’t exactly a surprise to him once he’d seen it with his own eyes, but the Slytherins reaction hadn’t been something he’d expected. None of the upper year Slytherins raised their own wands in response, even ones that had been bastards like Malfoy. They all stuck together or dodged but so far they were all lying low.

He’d mentioned it in passing to Hermione and Ron in the library once and was surprised when he heard a snort from behind him. He’d turned around to see Greengrass and asked, “What?”

She turned around to look at him and shrugged. “We all have our own reasons. Most of us know we’ve had it coming. And if you don’t accept that answer, think of how people would react to one of us openly raising a wand to someone in another House after last year.” Harry had gotten stories from Ginny, Neville and Luna about how a few Slytherin students, like Vincent Crabbe, had acted during the Carrows’ time at Hogwarts and had to admit that she had a point. It’d just be an instinctive reaction at that point.

Soon after that conversation, Malcolm Baddock had ended up in the hospital wing with tusks growing out of his mouth and that was when McGonagall had put her foot down. That was when things like pairing off students from different houses for classes had started. That was when he’d gotten paired with her for the first time.

After the brief conversation in the library, he hadn’t really expected much but Daphne Greengrass herself had turned out to be a nice surprise. For the majority of the time they’d been at school together, she’d had kind of a bad reputation outside of her own house; sarcastic and aloof, most of the students outside of Slytherin had written her off as stuck-up and cold. Things had apparently changed during the year he had been hunting Horcruxes, as by the time of eighth year she was a lot more friendly.

( He’d heard some things later, that she’d been one of the Slytherins who’d followed Slughorn into the final battle, but it wasn’t something he’d ever spoken to her about. He figured last year wasn’t something most people here wanted to talk about.)

The first time she’d moved her things over to this table, she said, “Potter. I’m sorry about...well, the last seven years between you and Slytherin house.” That had certainly not what he’d been expecting either after what she’d said to him in the library. His face must have shown his confusion because she’d sighed, “Like I said, most of us know we were the bad guys. I never said I wasn’t one of them.”

He’d blinked at her. “I’m just surprised that you, specifically, are apologizing to me.” Harry hadn’t thought Slytherins were the type to apologize, firstly, and she hadn't even been one of the worst towards him or his friends. The worst he could say about her was that she’d been rude or snobby in the past. “I’d expect one from Malfoy or Parkinson-“

“Oh, I have no doubt they’ll be apologizing. Draco might take a long while through.” The expression on his face must have been something as she snorted. “No, really. A lot has changed since the war started.” Something dark flickered in her blue eyes and her gaze unfocused, as if she was seeing something or someone else, but only for a moment. It happened so quickly he almost thought he’d imagined it, but they all had their nightmares from the war. “None of us are who we used to be anymore,” she said softly.

Harry looked down at the table for a moment, thinking and then came to a decision. “Apology accepted from you at least.” She smiled then, a real one and not the smirk he’d been used to seeing from her, and he felt he’d made the right choice. Then he noticed the Pride of Portree pin on her bag and wrinkled his nose. “Pride of Portree? Really?”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh and should I be supporting the Chudley Cannons like your friend?” They’d gotten into a friendly debate about teams until Flitwick called for order but they’d successfully broken the ice. After that conversations inside and outside of various classes had become normal for them. They were becoming friends, aside from one awkward incident on his part.

(He’d ended up pairing off with her in Herbology without even being asked. They hadn’t talked much in the lesson, because it had been miserably hot inside the greenhouse and that was only made worse from having to fight a particularly stubborn and temperamental plant back into its flower pot. After they’d gotten it in and he had to avoid getting smacked in the face by said plant, he’d turned to her and said, “We’re not a bad team.” It was only than that he registered that she’d shed part of her uniform after the plant had cut into her right sleeve and he was getting more of a view of her than he’d previously had.

He might have stared. A little, non-creepy amount of staring. He didn't realize she’d answered back at first until she poked him in the arm. “See something you like, Potter?” she’d asked, a smirk playing on her lips.

He’d rolled his eyes. “Very original line, Greengrass.”

Some emotion flickered in her eyes, but he wasn’t sure what. It passed quick and she laughed, “I’ll think of a better one next time.” )

That had been during their most recent Herbology class and thankfully he hadn’t made things awkward. Getting back to the present, he passed her a quill and she flashed him a smile that made his heart skip a beat. “Thanks, Potter.”

They worked mostly in silence after that, though he could have sworn he felt her eyes on him more than once. Towards the end of the class, after they’d started packing up their bags, she’d asked him a question, “Are you and Weasele-er, Ginny Weasley still dating?”

His eyes had narrowed slightly at the insulting nickname she’d almost said, but chose not to comment on that as she had stopped herself in time. “No, we’re not.”

There was a beat of silence. “Are you seeing any-“

“Daphne, come on!” Tracey Davis called from the door of the DADA classroom, Pansy Parkinson standing because her. He blinked as he saw Parkinson narrow her eyes at Davis and smack her on the back of the head with a roll of parchment. “Ow, Pansy what was that-“

Greengrass had covered her face with her hand as Davis gasped. “Oh shite, it was going to be today?”

“Smooth, Tracy, very smooth,” snapped Pansy.

Harry had to fight the urge to smile. He had no idea what was happening but the reactions between the three Slytherin girls were funny. “What’s today?” he asked Greengrass, chuckling.

He meant it to be light, but she tensed in response. “Nothing. It’s not important.” She swung her bag over her shoulder and gave him a genuine, if rather forced looking smile. “See you around, Potter.”

She strode towards the door without glancing back once. She ignored Tracy’s hurried ‘I’m sorry, Daph’ but let Pansy link her arm around hers.

Harry felt oddly disappointed as he watched her disappear through the door.

* * *

  
He had a free period that afternoon and spent the latter part of it walking around the grounds. He waved at a few other people also out, and fell into a conversation with Dennis Creevey, but he still caught himself thinking about the last conversation with Greengrass. What had she wanted to ask him? He told himself there was no real point in dwelling on it, and he was already late for dinner anyway after talking with Dennis.

He’d just walked into the dining hall when something rolled onto one end of the Slytherin table and engulfed it in blue smoke. Harry was running to the table without thinking and didn’t stop in time as someone else ran smack into him.

A very small someone.

“Woah,” he exclaimed as a little girl ran into him and then crashed to the floor. His reflexes were good enough that he should have been able to catch her, but he was too startled at her appearance to do anything.

This girl was younger than any first year. Harry thought she couldn’t be much older than five or six, but it was hard to tell since her long, brown hair was hiding most of her face. What he was really confused by was the fact that she was dressed in Hogwarts robes that were much too big on her; she looked like she was drowning in clothes. His eyes caught a green and silver tie practically hanging off the girl and he suddenly had a very bad feeling.

He was interrupted from that train of thought when he heard sniffling coming from the floor. Mentally cursing himself, he kneeled down in front of the girl and said softly, “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”

She shook her head, but didn’t meet his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you.” Her voice was quiet, and she still sniffled at the end.

“That’s okay. I’m fine, you’re fine. Please don’t cry-“

“I’m not crying!” she snapped, finally lifting her head to look at him. Despite her words, he could see watery blue eyes glaring out at him from behind a curtain of hair. “I’m not a b...b...b-baby.” Her face had turned pink as she started stuttering on the last word; he might have found it cute if she didn’t look so upset by it.

“My mistake,” he said, pretending as if he hadn’t heard her struggling on her last word. He looked up to see what else was happening around them and his eyes widened as he saw what looked like other children around this girl’s age at the Slytherin table. He looked back at the girl to see that she was glancing around nervously, and looked like she was five seconds away from bolting again. “Hey don’t worry about that, I’m sure it’s fine. Hogwarts can get a bit crazy sometimes but the professors are handling it.”

McGonagall was currently calling for order and Madam Pomfrey, Slughorn, and Hagrid were hurrying towards the table in the back. The prefects were trying to keep order among their own tables, but Harry could see students craning their heads to see, standing up and even trying to walk to the Slytherin table. Harry noticed Padma Patil grabbing the arm of a panicked looking brunette witch who’d stood up at the Ravenclaw table. The witch tried to jerk away from Padma, but Padma held on and started speaking to her quietly.

She blinked at him. “Hogwarts? But I’m not old enough.”

Maybe not right now, but Harry had a bad feeling that she had been old enough just a few minutes ago. What the hell had happened to cause this? He was more concerned that it wasn’t just a psychical change, since she was talking as if she didn’t remember being any age other than the one she was at now.

“-here?” Harry blinked as he realized she’d been speaking. “I was home and….Tori!” She tried to push herself up off the floor; she actually got to her feet, took a step before he could stop her, and then tripped over the robes that were now much too big on her.

He was able to grab her in time to stop her from hitting the stone floor again. “Woah, be careful. Who’s Tori?”

“My little sister! I was watching her and then I was here!” She wasn’t really shouting but her voice had gotten higher and her bottom lip was trembling like she was holding back tears. “She’s too little to be alone too long.”

Harry knew some things now: whoever this girl was definitely had no memory of her correct age and life; Tori, who was most likely not little anymore (unless she’d gotten turned young again too, damn it), was probably at Hogwarts too. At least he hoped she was at Hogwarts and nothing had happened to her between this girl’s last memory and now, which was a sad possibility thanks to the war. And finally: he needed a professor to deal with this right now.

Or Hermione.

Or someone not him anyway.

“I know you’re worried,” he said placatingly as the girl tried to wiggle out of his grasp. “But you don’t know the layout of the castle and I don’t want you getting lost. Let’s get one of the professors they’ll be able to help.”

She was staring up at him but had stopped trying to break free of him. “I’ll take you to one now,” he continued. “Let me help you, please.”

She nodded and he grinned at her; behind her hair, he could see her face turn pink again and she looked down at the floor. He let go of her to stand up himself -to her credit she stayed where she was now that he’d gotten her agreement - and then he scooped her up in his arms, causing her to squeal.

“Put me down!” She demanded as he carried her towards the Slytherin table. She was glaring up at him and, without the hair blocking her face, blushing fiercely. Now that he was seeing her face full on, he thought she looked familiar but couldn’t place her, which he blamed fully on her current age. “I can w...w-“

She started sputtering as she got caught on another word and he said soothingly, “I know, I know, you’re not a baby. You can walk, but it’ll be faster if I carry you.” She huffed and he chuckled despite himself. “Just pretend you’re a princess and I’m your noble steed.”

“Idiot,” she said, but couldn’t stop a giggle from escaping. Her little arm went around his neck and she buried her face in his shoulder.

“Ouch. My name is Harry,” he said. He left off Potter because, if she was a pureblood (or even a halfblood) like he expected from the Slytherin tie, she’d know his story and expect Harry Potter to be around the same age as her.

“Daphne,” she mumbled, face still buried in his shoulder.

He was very glad she wasn’t looking at his face or the shocked expression might have worried her. This was Daphne Greengrass? His brain was trying to make sense of this girl and the one he was becoming friends with. The Greengrass he knew had a sort of quiet confidence to her whereas this girl seemed shy, more insecure. He’d never heard Greengrass stutter once either and he heard her just do so twice now within the span of around three minutes.

People changed, he reminded himself. And it could just be because of finding herself in an unfamiliar place with no idea how she got here. It’s not like he knew her well enough to say either way.

As they got closer to the Slytherin table, Pomfrey looked up and started walking towards them. “I knew we were missing at least one. Here, let me take her and-“

“No!” exclaimed Daphne, throwing both arms around his neck. She was clinging on tightly to him now, making him think of a koala he’d seen a picture of once. “Don’t leave, Harry,” she said, sniffling again. “I don’t know her.” He was going to point out that she didn’t know him either but was afraid she might cry if he did.

Harry looked helplessly at Pomfrey, who looked more amused at his reaction than anything else. “Alright, there’s no need to be upset. Harry will stay.” He opened his mouth to object and the mediwitch glared at him.

He closed his mouth.

Daphne relaxed against him again.

Slughorn and Hagrid were rounding up the kid-ified Slytherins -the affected were all seventh or eighth years he noticed, at least he thought they were - and Hagrid had basically scooped up most of them in his arms. “Follow me,” said Pomfrey, who led the way to the hospital wing.

* * *

If Harry had hoped he’d be able to make a quick escape after getting the now tiny Greengrass to the hospital wing, he was sadly mistaken. Daphne’s grip had not let up on him once and she was still holding on for dear life even after falling asleep thanks to a potion passed around to all the now little Slytherins. He leaned against the headboard, trying not to move, as Daphne had curled up on top of him.

He’d only meant to close his eyes for a few seconds but that soon turned into minutes and he was startled awake by the sound of a giggle. He saw the Ravenclaw girl who’d been arguing with Padma earlier; she was sitting on a chair next to the bed and was smirking down at Daphne. “I really wish I had a camera right now. This would make great blackmail material.”

He frowned at her. “I’m sorry, but who are you?” Without realizing it, his arms had circled around Daphne as if protecting her.

“Astoria Greengrass,” she answered, blinking at his reaction.

“You’re Tori?” He looked closer at her and that was when he noticed the similarities: the same brown hair, almost the same shade of blue eyes, and he thought her nose might have been the same as Daphne’s as well. But what did he know? Didn’t most noses look similar?

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards. “Oh, has she mentioned me?” The way she said it was teasing, which gave him the idea that she wasn’t talking about this version of Daphne.

He nodded down at the sleeping girl. “Daphne doesn’t remember how old she is. She thought she was watching you and ended up here somehow. I got her to go with me by promising to help look for you.”

“Oh, Daph.” The teasing expression on Astoria’s face vanished, replaced by something much softer and affectionate as she looked at her sister. “You always have to be the big sister don’t you?”

Harry wouldn’t say anything, but he was relieved that ‘Tori’ was alive and well. He would have hated it if whatever magic had caused this forced Greengrass to mourn her sister twice.

Astoria reached out a hand and tucked the strands of hair falling over Daphne’s face behind her ear. Daphne made a mewling sound and moved in her sleep, but didn’t wake up. “She’s so cute like this, but I’m surprised she’s this relaxed with you. I don’t remember her being this comfortable with strangers as a kid. And it’s not like she remembers fal-“

Astoria cut herself off suddenly, mouth clenching shut and her cheeks turning pink. Harry arched an eyebrow, intrigued by that reaction. “Doesn’t remember what?”

“It’s not important,” she answered, not making eye contact with him. “Um, you can leave now if you want. She’s out like a light and won’t notice you going. I’ll stay with her.”

“Oh, sure.” He felt reluctant to actually leave, thinking of how she’d clung onto him and pleaded with him to stay with her. Would she feel betrayed if she woke up to him gone? He then winced and hoped that Greengrass, whenever she was back to normal, wouldn’t be embarrassed about this later. If she remembered any of this. Did he want her to remember any of this? He didn’t know.

He must have been taking too long because Astoria gave him a smirk that reminded him very much of her older sister. “It’s sweet of you to worry. But she’ll be safe in the hospital wing and I’ll be here until Madam Pomfrey kicks me out. I doubt she’ll even wake up again tonight.”

Inexplicably, he felt his cheeks redden at the look she was giving him and nodded. Gently, he moved Daphne from on top of him to lying on the bed; she whined and hugged the pillow to herself but remained asleep. Quietly, he stood from the bed, said goodbye to Astoria and left for Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

  
“There you are Harry! Where’ve you been mate?” called Ron from the table he and Hermione sat with a Wizard’s Chess set between them.

Harry sighed as he took the third chair. “I was helping with the Slytherins.” He watched Ron’s knight clobber one of Hermione’s pieces over the head. “All the ones in our year were turned into little kids. It’s mad.”

Hermione wrinkled her nose. “McGonagall was furious. Some fourth years rigged whatever it was to go off during dinner. From what I heard, they weren’t even expecting it to affect the Slytherins the way it did.”

Harry thought of how disoriented and scared Greengrass had been after getting turned into a little kid and he felt a surge of protective anger. “If they didn’t know how it affects people, they shouldn’t have done it.” It hadn’t just been Greengrass who’d been upset either; they’d been put to bed because a few of them had been crying for their parents.

And not all of them still had families who would come get them if anything worse happened.

“No arguments there,” agreed Hermione. “I thought after the war we’d all have grown up from stupid ‘jokes’ like this.”

Ron shrugged. “I mean if some fourth years made it, it can’t be that strong right. It’ll probably wear off soon.”

Harry really hoped so.


	2. Missing You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eighth year; de-aging. After a joke has unintended side-effects, Harry ends up helping to take care of an effected Daphne Greengrass. And finds himself unexpectedly missing the normal Daphne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

It hadn’t worn off overnight.

That had been obvious when he had strolled into Charms class that Friday morning and none of the Slytherins were there. Everyone else had noticed as well and a few were whispering among themselves but Harry was trying to block them out as he took his usual seat and tried to ignore the empty chair next to his. Normally, Greengrass would have already been here by the time he was walking through the door; depending on how close it was to the start of class, he’d have gotten either a ‘Morning Potter’ or something like ‘Cutting it close, aren’t we?’ from her.

He missed it, which surprised him.

He didn’t have much time to focus on it before class was starting, but he was distracted through class and it got worse throughout the day. It didn’t help that his next class was Transfiguration, in which she also sat nearby him if not right next to him. Maybe surprised was the wrong word, at least when it came to missing her in general: they’d been becoming friends this year and he enjoyed talking to her. (She was also not hard on the eyes, his mind thought treacherously before he shoved that thought away.) The only part that could be considered surprising was how much he missed her.

They’d only started becoming friends recently. How did he miss her this much already?

His feelings were apparently obvious because Ron had pat him on the back and said, “Greengrass’’ll be alright, mate”; and Hermione had apparently snuck away quickly to the library last night and had come back with a book that had a section on age changing magic. “It only lasts long when there’s real skill behind it. I doubt some fourth years were able to make something too strong.”

He was grateful for their concern, if a little confused about how Ron knew he’d been missing a particular person. Ron had just shrugged at him. “You’re always talking to her. Honestly, Hermione and I were starting to think you fancied her.”

“I never said the word fancied,” Hermione had protested, not looking him in the eye.

“You didn’t have to. It was obvious,” Ron had answered back, smirking a little.

“I do not fancy Daphne Greengrass! We’re friends, that’s all.” He tried to make his tone sound as confident as possible, and then he realized it just made him sound like he was protesting too much.

Ron and Hermione had just shared a look before thankfully dropping the subject.

Yeah, that had been awkward.

He also had to admit that aside from missing the normal Greengrass, he was worrying about the smaller version of her too. She’d been pretty frightened by everything and she wouldn’t let go of him; he hoped that she wasn’t hurt when she woke up and he was gone and that she was getting along with the other kids. Damn it, he was starting to sound like Hagrid after he’d given up Norbert (really Norberta, but they hadn’t known that at the time).

It didn’t help that when he walked into the dining hall at lunch, he’d looked over to the Slytherin table to see if maybe it had worn off now. He didn’t have much hope that it did, but he was still disappointed when he saw that the oldest students at that table were sixth years. Ignoring the knowing looks on his best friends’ faces, he walked over to the Gryffindor table and started putting food on his plate, but he wasn’t there long before someone walked up behind him.

Astoria Greengrass had tapped him on the shoulder and told him, “I have to tell you something, but just know everything is fine now. There was sort of a small fire in the Hospital Wing.” He dropped the fork he was holding and it hit his plate with a loud clatter. Before he could say anything, she hurriedly explained, “Everyone is fine, Harry. Madam Pomfrey put it out right after it started, and it was over and done with before I got there. Not that she let me go in to see myself.” Her tone had changed to an annoyed grumble at the last part but his mind was still stuck on the fire thing.

“Why was there a fire at all?!”

She sighed tiredly, “Because they’ve all been turned back into little kids who can accidently use magic if they get angry or scared enough. Sometimes it’s harmless and then there are times when things burst into flames.” She ran a hand through her hair and commented, “They might end up moving them to another part of the castle that doesn't have delicate potions and instruments that can be destroyed. I’ll let you know if you want to visit Daphne again.”

“I do,” he said quickly, surprising himself.

Astoria smiled. “Then I'll make sure to let you know.”

* * *

They did end up being moved to the Room of Requirement, according to a note from Astoria.

He scarfed down a quick dinner, before making his apologies to his friends and running off to the seventh floor. The door opened onto what looked like an extra large version of one of the school’s dorm rooms, except for the piles of toys and games and the shelves full of books. All of which were currently getting a lot of use thanks to the kids scattered around the room.

He barely had time to take everything in when he had to dodge out of the way of a giggling blur who ran around him, followed by a frazzled looking Madam Pomfrey.

“Miss Davis, I said no running!”

None of them were sobbing anymore so he reckoned they must have been told a believable story about their presence here. He looked around the room and frowned when he didn’t see her in one of the small groups of children in the middle of the room; instead he saw her in a corner, but not alone.

Astoria had beaten him here and she was sitting on the floor next to her sister. The young Daphne (it was impossible to think of her as Greengrass like this) was sitting with her back against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest and looking up at Astoria. The robes and uniform she was still wearing, except for a now missing tie, had been shrunk to fit her so she no longer looked like her clothes were trying to swallow her whole.

He’d missed whatever had been said first, but Daphne smiled shyly and said, “That’s my sister’s name too!”

“Really? That’s funny. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of another Astoria!”

Daphne noticed him then and her smile turned brighter. “Harry! You came back!” Well, she wasn’t mad at him then for leaving her in the Hospital Wing; that was a relief.

“Of course I did,” he said, smiling. He took a seat on the floor, across from the both of them. “Hey Astoria,” he greeted her before turning back to Daphne. “What were you reading?” he asked as he noticed the book lying discarded next to her.

Harry regretted that question almost immediately as she held up the book and he saw the cover: Harry Potter Adventures. His face felt warm and he hoped he didn’t look as uncomfortable as he felt; he’d found out in the years since he’d been introduced to the wizarding world, that there had been books written about him but it never stopped being awkward seeing one. “Oh. Do you like books about Harry Potter?”

“Sometimes.” She shrugged. “Felt like it today.” Somehow he felt better that it wasn’t one of her favorites; it’d have been harder to look Greengrass in the eye when she was back to normal otherwise.

Astoria had hidden her mouth behind her hand and looked as if she was trying very hard not to laugh. Unfortunately, she was only quiet for a few more seconds before she reached out for the book and pretended to look between the illustration on the cover and him. “You know Harry, I think you look a bit like The Harry Potter. What do you think, Daphne?”

Daphne looked between the cover and him. “Kinda. But Harry P...P…P-Potter’s a kid like me.” She clenched one of her little hands into a fist when she stuttered, but relaxed it again.

Alright, it was definitely time to change the subject. “Did you play with any of the other kids?”

“A little.” She glanced down at the floor, hair falling in front of her face. “I know some of them. P...P...Pansy’s my best friend. Tracey’s nice. I don’t like all of them. Harper’s mean.”

Harry had to remind himself that Harper was a little kid right now and not the arsehole reserve Slytherin Seeker Harry had known him as. (He was glad Malfoy had taken his spot back from Harper this year, not that he was friends with Malfoy now. But he knew Malfoy had changed; he wasn’t sure Harper had.)

“Mean how?” asked Astoria, who looked about as unhappy as Harry did right now.

Daphne mumbled something.

“We can’t hear you,” Harry said gently.

Daphne said slowly, quietly, “He copies me.”

Harry blinked, confused, but he noticed Astoria’s warm blue eyes looked icy now; it reminded him a little of the normal Daphne when she was angry. Before he could say something, Astoria asked, “He copies your stutter?” The fact that answer came so quickly to her made him think something like that had happened before to Daphne and he didn’t like the idea of that.

She nodded. “I got mad. That makes it w...w,” she cut herself off, hands clenched into fists.

Would it be wrong of him to hex Harper once the other bloke was back to normal? Harry didn’t care if the answer was yes, he was going to do it anyway. He was no Ginny Weasley, but he could cast an alright Bat Bogey Hex. Right now though, he said, “Harper’s a jerk. Who cares if you stutter? It’s not a big deal.”

She started shaking her head, still looking at the floor. “Not true. Father said I have to stop. And I hate it too.”

Astoria looked sad at this point and reached out a hand, before stopping. “You don’t have to talk about it anymore. Do you want to play a game with me and Harry?” Daphne nodded again and Astoria stood up. “I’ll be right back,” she said as she walked away to look at a stack of card and board games.

Harry tried to think of something to say after they were left alone. Daphne was still not looking up at him, which was not helping. “So, besides Harper, do you like Hogwarts?”

She finally looked up at him and shrugged. “I guess. I saw a ghost; that was cool! I’m not allowed to look around more.” Her mouth curved into a pout that was adorable. “Is there really a giant squid in the lake here?!”

Harry smiled. “Yes. Some people feed it; I gave it toast a couple of times.”

“And merfolk?”

“Yes, though I don’t see them a lot. Maybe the Slytherins do; they live under the lake.”

“Cool!” Her eyes had lit up now. “That’s going to be my house.”

Harry forced himself not to laugh, knowing that was the house she ended up in. “You’re very sure of that. What if you end up in a different one?”

“I’m not,” she said, very seriously. “I’m a G...G...G-Greengrass.”

So was Astoria and she was in Ravenclaw. Before he could say anything else, Astoria herself was back and carrying a board game. “You like Niffler Trap, right?”

“Yes,” Daphne said.

“I’ve never played,” Harry replied.

“It’s fun. You make traps,” said Daphne, smiling shyly.

Hence the name, he thought sarcastically, but didn’t say in case it hurt her feelings. They managed to get through one game before Pomfrey was saying it was time for all of the little kids to go to bed. “Do I have to?” asked Daphne, but couldn’t stop herself from yawning.

“Yes Miss Greengrass,” said Madam Pomfrey in a long-suffering tone of voice. “You - Mr. Malfoy!” She shouted suddenly causing all three of them to jump. “You and Mr. Nott will stop trying to open that window this instant! We’re on the seventh floor!”

“They’re in trouble,” said Daphne, giggling.

“Yeah, you better go to bed before you are too,” Harry said. That got him another pout but he ignored it, whereas Astoria was smirking as she put the games back into the box.

Daphne sighed and got up but then hesitated. “Can...may I see you both again, please?” She said it slowly and deliberately, obviously trying hard not to stammer on any words. She wasn’t looking at either of them either as she said it, and he thought she looked almost like she expected the answer to be no.

“Of course,” he and Astoria said at almost the exact same time.

Daphne finally looked back up and her whole face had practically lit up in happiness. “Thank you,” she said before hugging Harry and then Astoria. Harry awkwardly hugged back -even after yesterday, he was still surprised by her being affectionate like this- and noticed to his surprise that Astoria was a little stiff too when hugging her sister back.

Shouldn’t she of all people be used to it?

* * *

He wouldn’t have to wait long to get an answer, as she spoke almost as soon as the door closed behind them. “This is so weird,” Astoria sighed as she fiddled with the straps on her bag.

“Yeah, it’s strange seeing them all like this.” He’d been going to school with all of them for years, even if he didn’t like most of them for the majority of that time, and he was still a little taken aback when he saw them.

“Well yes that,” said Astoria, “but she’s a little different than I remember. She wouldn’t hug strangers like that as a kid.”

“You’re her sister.”

“But she doesn't recognize me,” she protested. “She thinks I just happen to have the same name as her sister.”

Harry thought for a moment before saying carefully, “But you would have been what...three when she was this age the first time? Maybe you just don’t remember.”

Astoria shrugged, but was still frowning. “Maybe.” She pushed a strand of hair falling in front of her face behind her ear and was silent for a moment. “It could just be that I’m not used to being the big sister. Obviously we don’t have a huge age difference -uh, until right now- but I was normally the one leaning on her not the other way around.”

“I don’t think you’re doing too bad. And this will hopefully all be over soon anyway.”

Astoria smiled tiredly. “Not soon enough. Goodnight Harry.”

She separated from him to walk to Ravenclaw Tower and he turned to call out to her as he remembered something from earlier. “Astoria!” She turned back around and he asked, “Daphne said she had to go to Slytherin because she’s a Greengrass. If it’s that important why aren’t you in Slytherin as well? I know relatives don’t all end up in the same house but-“

“I wasn’t the first born,” she interrupted him. “Daphne had a different set of expectations than I did.”

With that she walked off, and Harry was left with some things to think about in relation to Daphne Greengrass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s fun to write Astoria as being the more protective sibling at times. At the same time, Astoria is going to be very relieved for Daphne to be back to normal so she can stop. 
> 
> I want to confirm Daphne has absolutely no conscious memories of anyone or anything past her current age. She doesn’t recognize Harry or Astoria, but there might be some subconscious things happening soon, if not already. Given her reading choice this chapter. 
> 
> Niffler Trap is based on board games like Mouse Trap where the point is building things. I also felt pretty bad for Madam Pomfrey this chapter. And this fic is going to be a chapter longer than originally planned now.


	3. Childhood’s End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eighth year; de-aging. After a joke has unintended side-effects, Harry ends up helping to take care of an effected Daphne Greengrass. And finds himself unexpectedly missing the normal Daphne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Harry Potter. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

_Harry walked into the DADA classroom and frowned when the Slytherins were the only students he recognized sitting down. He opened his mouth to speak when Greengrass looked up and noticed him and gave him a polite smile. “Good morning, Professor,” she said as she glanced down at her textbook, completely missing his confused expression._

_The others all echoed Greengrass’ greeting and that was when he caught his reflection: his face was noticeably older and he was dressed in formal robes rather than Gryffindor ones. He was far from being an old man, but he was still much older than any of the Slytherins. He was frozen in place and they all turned to look at him now._

_“Professor, are you alright?” asked Greengrass._

_“Teacher’s pet,” snickered Malfoy from the back of the class._

_“Oh shut up, Draco,” Greengrass said, rolling her eyes._

_That was when he screamed._

Harry sat bolt right up in bed, heart pounding in his chest, and it took him a few seconds to recognize he was in his room in Gryffindor Tower. His breath came out in a relieved sigh and he fell back onto his bed, even if he doubted he’d get back to sleep that morning.

* * *

It would turn out that he wasn’t the only person in the castle having bad dreams.

The mood in the Room of Requirement was a lot more subdued that morning. Most of his now tiny classmates were playing quietly in small groups or off by themselves and none of them were as hyper as they’d been last night. Frowning, he walked over to the back of the room where Daphne was. She was lying on her stomach and scribbling away on a piece of paper and she looked paler than normal. Astoria wasn’t here yet, so either she was still sleeping or she was coming later.

Her eyes were red and puffy looking when she looked up at him, but she smiled when she recognized him. “Hi Harry!”

“Hi Daphne,” he said as he sat down next to her on the floor. He glanced down to the picture she’d been drawing and blinked as he recognized it as a classroom even with the childish art style. He frowned when he noticed the stick figure people in it as well; there was one very mean looking one pointing a wand (?) at another stick figure that looked like it was lying down and there were a couple other stick figures standing around. The one lying down looked like it was crying and the stick figures standing around were all frowning.

No, please don’t let this mean what he thought it did. She couldn’t have remembered anything.

He was proud of how casual his voice sounded as he asked, “What are you drawing?”

Daphne shrugged but looked down at the floor. “I had a bad dream.”

He waited for her to say something else, but she stayed quiet and he mentally debated over what he should ask or whether he should ask it at all. “That’s rough. I had a bad dream too. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I dreamed about scary people,” she said quietly. Glancing up at him, she asked, “Do you w...w...w-want to talk about yours?”

Harry hadn’t expected her to turn the question on him and he spoke without thinking, “One of my friends went away. I miss her and I dreamed that she was going to be gone for a really long time.” Merlin, he was admitting that he missed Daphne Greengrass to Daphne Greengrass. This was a really weird weekend.

Daphne suddenly stood up and hugged him. “I hope your friend comes back soon,” she said in her serious little voice.

He smiled softly and hugged her back, a little less awkwardly than last night. “Me too. Thank you, Daphne. And I hope you have better dreams tonight.” He was going to have to tell Astoria when she got here; Daphne didn’t act like she remembered anything but in this case he reckoned it was better to be safe than sorry. Hermione would be so proud of him.

“Now come on,” he said as let go of her and grabbed for another piece of paper. “I feel like drawing. I haven’t tried to draw anything in a long time so promise not to laugh?”

“Okay,” she said, smiling.

* * *

And that was how Astoria found them about half an hour later. Harry had tried -emphasis on tried- to draw a Hungarian Horntail after making the mistake of mentioning it to Daphne and...well, he thought he deserved points for effort.

Daphne giggled when she looked at it and he gasped in mock outrage. “You promised not to laugh.”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. I said okay.” She had a mischievous smile on her face and it was the first time he thought he could see Greengrass in this girl. “I didn’t say I p…p...p-promised.” She’d clenched her fists again when she stuttered and slowly unclenched them.

“So I missed art class then?” asked a laughing voice from behind him.

“Astoria!” Daphne’s smile had turned brighter at seeing the girl she didn’t recognize as her sister. “You came back too!”

“I said I would,” Astoria said as she sat down next to him. She looked over his shoulder at his drawing and she raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to be?”

This made Daphne giggle again and Harry sighed. “It’s a Hungarian Horntail.”

Astoria blinked. “It is?” She tilted her head to the left and then the right as if that would make it more obvious. “Oh well. If you say so.” Shrugging, she ignored his eye roll and turned to Daphne and asked, “Did you draw anything?”

“I drew my house,” she said as she handed it to Astoria. It was another stick figure like drawing of a very large house, a little girl stick figure and a horse. When she told him what she was drawing, he’d been a little taken aback that she owned a pony and that her family had other horses. He’d slept in a cupboard and she’d had her own pony. “That’s Tori and my horse. I miss them.”

Astoria looked down at the drawing to hide a smile. Harry couldn’t help but notice that their parents weren’t in that drawing, Daphne hadn’t mentioned them, and Astoria didn’t bring them up either. Was that saying something or was he reading too much into it? Daphne frowned suddenly and asked, “Do you think I’ll g,” she cut herself off briefly, “leave for home soon?”

Oh, that was a tough one. Harry had no idea what the now young Slytherins had been told as an explanation of why they were here and he didn’t want to say anything that would make her question it. Especially not when he had no idea how much longer this magic was going to last.

“You shouldn’t be here much longer,” said Astoria, surprising him. She ignored him and commented, “It’s ok to be homesick. Is this the longest you’ve been away from your family?”

“Yes,” she answered. “I like that it’s quiet here, but I miss them.” Harry’s eyebrow shot up to his hairline when she described Hogwarts as quiet, even the Room of Requirement last night had kids running around and talking loudly. She must have noticed his expression as her pale face turned pink and she hurriedly continued, “Not quiet like that...just there’s less screaming. I love father and mother, but they fight all the time.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling suddenly very uncomfortable. He knew instinctively this was something Greengrass would not want him to know if she was her normal self, and he felt almost as if he’d gone behind her back. It was a completely ridiculous thought -he hadn’t tricked or prodded her younger self into talking about this after all - and he knew it but he still felt bad.

Daphne shrugged. “I’m used to it. It’s Tori that’s not; she’s little and gets scared.” Her eyes widened. “I hope they’re not fighting now. Tori’s alone.” Astoria’s face was doing something very complicated and he glanced away.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” said Astoria herself placatingly. “She’s lucky to have an older sister who cares about her.”

Daphne’s cheeks turned pink and she hid her face behind her hair. “It’s not a b..b...b-big deal. I’m the oldest.” She squeaked as Astoria pulled her into a hug, but hugged back after a few seconds. Still he choked back a laugh as her blue eyes met his and he saw a look of complete confusion in them.

He thought this was as good a time as any to try and speak to Astoria alone. “I’m getting hungry again. I’m going to get some snacks from the kitchen. Come with me Astoria?”

Astoria had let go of her miniaturized sister and looked at him blankly but she must have seen something in his expression because she nodded.

“Can I come too?” asked Daphne as she watched them both stand up.

“Sorry, I don’t think Madam Pomfrey is going to let you leave the room,” he said.

“Not fair,” she groaned dramatically, crossing her arms. “I w…w...w-want to go outside.” She flopped down on the floor and he had to cover up a laugh by pretending to cough.

* * *

He waited until they got to the staircase to ask her, “Why did you tell her she’ll go home soon? What if this, whatever this is, lasts a while?” That had not been what he planned to bring up first but it had just come out. He thought of his nightmare again and had to remind himself that everyone was convinced this wouldn’t last long.

“As opposed to saying what? That we have no idea? Or changing the subject?” Her tone was calm, but there was something challenging in it at the same time. “The only reason they’re all not having a collective meltdown right now, because their staying here is being made to seem normal. But if we keep dodging around it, they’re going to get suspicious.”

“They’re five-“

“Yeah, but they’re not stupid. Little kids pick up on things too and it’ll only take one getting upset to set them all off,” she said as they started down the stairs. “And if that happens Pomfrey will definitely ban us from coming back.”

He sighed, but decided to just drop it for now. There was something more important to bring up. “Look, something happened before you got there,” he started and explained the story as they continued on to the kitchens.

Astoria had gone very pale when he explained what the first drawing looked like. “You’re sure?” Her eyes turned very tired and sorrowful looking and he realized too late that Astoria would have her own nightmares from last year. It was easy to forget when she normally seemed so cheerful. “Of course you’re sure. You wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise.”

He winced. “Yeah. I wasn’t here last year but I’ve been told things...and I can’t think of what else it could be if she wasn’t drawing class with one of the Carrows.”

“Speaking as someone who was here, it definitely sounds like it. Oh Merlin, out of anything she could have remembered, why did it have something from last year?”

Harry completely agreed with her. He didn’t like the idea of a five year old dreaming about anything remotely related to one of the Carrows, and the only thing that made it slightly less bad was that Daphne thought it was just a dream. More sobering was the thought that it might not have just been her since all the Slytherins had seemed out of sorts this morning. “It might not have just been her either. They were all very quiet.” He hadn’t spoken to any of them, true, but it only made sense: why would Daphne have remembered something but none of the others did?

Astoria was quiet for a few minutes until she started, “I was thinking if it was possible that she could maybe subconsciously remember things. She was more comfortable with us than she would have been with strangers as a kid. And all of them accepted being at Hogwarts pretty easily after the shock wore off.”

Harry frowned. “But why would that explain her being comfortable with me? We don’t know each other that well.”

“Really? As if it’s not obvious that she f-” Astoria cut herself off, eyes wide. “Oh look it’s the kitchen! Come on.”

Harry blinked at the sudden change of subject. “Wait, what were you going to say?” His heart was beating faster all of a sudden. This was the second time she’d done that and Daphne had wanted to ask him something before this mess happened. He felt it was very important, but-

“It’s not important! Now, do you think Madam Pomfrey would be mad if we brought back snacks for everyone?”

* * *

It turned out that Madam Pomfrey was not thrilled that they brought back sweets for a bunch of children yet somehow Astoria was able to smooth that over. Honestly, he’d been standing right next to her as she did it and he still had no idea how she’d done it. Overall, the sweets didn’t seem to cause as much of a sugar high as the mediwitch had been afraid of….outside of one incident where they found out the Room had generated toy broomsticks and Harper, Malfoy and Zabini started doing laps around the room.

But Harry was pretty sure that would have happened anyway.

(He did earn some goodwill back by helping deal with that situation. He was handing her the toy brooms for her to hold onto when he finally asked, “Is this going to wear off soon?”

She no longer looked visibly irritated with him as she answered, “It should. I ran diagnostic spells and it’s not that strong….I expect it’ll either wear off today or tomorrow by the latest.)

The nightmares from the previous night must have been worse than he thought because when he came back after lunch, Daphne was yawning and started nodding off. Some of the other kids were as well, but he was paying more attention to Daphne than the others. “You look tired. Do you want to take a nap?”

She looked offended at that suggestion. “I don’t need a nap. I’m not a b...b...baby,” she grumbled, but couldn’t stop another yawn.

“No one’s calling you a baby. But you didn’t sleep well last night so you might need to now,” he said reasonably. She gave him a glare that would have been more impressive from someone at least ten years older than her. Astoria laughed softly and then again when Daphne slumped against him, eyes opening and closing.

He moved, thinking he’d just pick her up and put her in one of the beds, but she grabbed his arm and sighed, “Don’t go.I don’t....I might not have the dream again if you’re here.” With that, she drifted off against his side.

Astoria was no help as she said, “I forgot my runes textbook in my dorm. I’ll be right back. Oh and I wouldn’t move; she wasn't really a heavy sleeper as a little kid.” With that, she ran off and he sighed as he reached for one of the books Daphne had taken off the shelves; it was a bit young for him, but he needed something to do now that she’d fallen asleep.

Ten minutes later, she started moving around in her sleep and he hesitated as he debated whether he should wake her up. Harry wasn’t given the time to decide as blue smoke suddenly obscured his vision, startling him, and he lost his balance as an unexpected weight pressed up against him. He fell back on the floor, groaning and froze when he heard a familiar voice next to him: “Shite.”

“Daphne?” he asked as the smoke started to clear. The next second the smoke had disappeared completely and he saw that he now had a fully grown Greengrass lying partially on top of him. Her school robes and uniform had grown with her, though her tie was still gone, and she looked nearly the same as the last time he’d seen her.

Well, the normal her anyway.

Groaning, she pushed herself up so she was sitting down and was glancing around her in confusion. Her brow furrowed as she looked first at him and then at their other classmates who were back to their correct ages and looked about as confused as she did. “What’s-“

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, the memory loss aspect apparently only worked for the first transformation. He could see the exact second she must have remembered because her face went pink. “No,” she breathed out as she pushed herself to her feet.

He stood up as well and said, “It's okay. Please don’t be-“

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, P…P...P,” she cut herself off, bringing up a hand to cover her mouth. Her eyes had widened again, and her face was burning at this point. The expression on her face morphed from surprise to shame and a lump settled in his throat when he saw it. _“Father said I have to stop. And I hate it too.”_

He tried speaking again, “Greengrass, it’s really fine. I didn’t mind.”

She was shaking her head at him. Before he could say anything else, she quickly turned on her heel and strode away. “Greengrass, wait!” he called out, but she ignored him, as she ignored the other Slytherins whose memories were coming back. She ignored Madam Pomfrey as well when the mediwitch ordered her to stay.

Astoria had finally gotten back from Ravenclaw Tower, book in hand, and blinked as she saw that everyone was back to normal. A bright smile broke out on her face when she noticed her sister. “Daphne!” Her expression faltered when Greengrass strode past without looking at her. Astoria gave him an apologetic look before chasing after her sister. “Daph, wait up! I have your wand!”

Harry hurried to follow but a hand grabbed him on his arm as he got closer to the door. He glanced back to see Parkinson, who was staring at him. “Don’t go after her. She needs space when she gets like this. You’ll just make it worse if you go running after her right now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m starting to think I can’t write stories that are completely light. Then again it’s kind of hard to write an eighth year fic without any angst, no matter which characters you’re following. But the ‘dream’ about seventh year was to show the spell breaking; the Slytherins had their memories repressed by the magic, but they were still there. It’s why they didn’t freak out more about being at Hogwarts after they first got turned into kids; part of their minds knew they were supposed to be there. 
> 
> Just one more chapter to go. I might at some point do a bonus chapter that gives some of Daphne’s POV of this entire mess, but it’s not definite. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! My other stories are being worked on as well and should be updated soon.


	4. An Ending Leads to a New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eighth year; de-aging. After a joke has unintended side-effects, Harry ends up helping to take care of an effected Daphne Greengrass. And finds himself unexpectedly missing the normal Daphne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Harry Potter. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

When he started that day, Harry had not thought getting advice from Pansy Parkinson would be a thing that would be happening to him today. Not least of all because she’d been a five year old about an hour ago; he and Parkinson had made peace with each other after his first real conversation with Greengrass, but they weren’t friends.

They’d mostly been ignoring each other since the beginning of the school year, though even he had noticed that Pansy had been less like her pre-war self than before. The most they’d ever interacted had been when Greengrass was around, and now she was leading him into an empty classroom.

Honestly, Harry had no idea why he was going along with this. Even putting aside their past history, he was impatient to go after Greengrass. He wanted to let her know things were okay, especially since that expression on her face was still etched in his brain. She’d looked so ashamed and he hated it; he didn’t want her to feel like that again, not if he could help it.

Wait, what was he thinking?

“So first thing, you can’t Gryffindor things with Daph,” Parkinson had started speaking almost as soon as he’d closed the door behind him. He blinked, her bossy tone breaking his thoughts.

He frowned. “What does that even-“

“Come on. You know what it means,” she interrupted him impatiently. “Daphne doesn’t like to be chased, especially not when she’s this upset. You can’t go rushing in and trying to get her to talk to you right away.”

Harry furrowed his brow. “Astoria ran after her.”

Parkinson snorted. “Little Greengrass is the exception that proves the rule.” Since Harry had been visiting with a young Daphne, his brain really had to switch gears to understand that ‘Little Greengrass’ was referring to Astoria. Parkinson leaned against the desk as she kept talking: “Daphne has always had a soft spot for her little sister-“

“Yeah, I noticed,” he chuckled despite himself, inadvertently cutting her off. It was sweet which had not been an adjective he’d have used to describe her before this.

Hazel eyes narrowed at him, but she continued, “So Astoria can get away with shite that other people can’t. You can’t use what works for her as a base.” Crossing her arms, she stared at him before continuing, “I’d say give her at least a day to calm down. Even better wait for her to come to you.”

He arched an eyebrow and said dryly, “Wait for her to come to me? You make her sound like a cat.” He still wanted to go after her, but he was calming down more and more throughout this conversation and he could see the sense in what Parkinson was saying. As much as he hated to admit it even to himself.

To his surprise, she gave a short laugh. “You said it, not me. We’ll certainly see if she commits to the animagus plan after graduation.” Greengrass was thinking about becoming an animagus? Interesting. There was still so much he didn’t know about her.

Once again, Parkinson’s voice broke his train of thought: “Look Potter, Daphne and I have been best friends practically since we were toddlers. I know her. And I’m telling you forcing her to talk to you when she’s not ready is going to blow up in your face.” Her expression turned more serious and he couldn’t help the feeling that he was being studied. “You should think about what you’re going to say to her anyway. What do you want to get out of it?”

Harry frowned in thought. “I just want to make her feel better. I didn’t want to embarrass her and I didn’t mind spending time with her. She’s my friend-“

“Is that all?” She asked in a flat voice.

He blinked. “Isn’t that enough?”

For just a second, Parkinson had such a look of aggravation on her face that it reminded him of the Pansy before the war. It was gone in a second and she breathed out slowly. “You just want to go back to the way things were before this bullshite happened? There’s nothing you want to change?”

Given that he was afraid of the ‘Greengrass is so mortified that she’ll never speak to me again’ possibility happening, he thought that sounded alright to him. He had missed her, more than he would have thought, and he wanted to keep her around; he wanted to keep getting to know her like he had before this happened.

“I missed her,” he said confidently. “I-“

Pansy was relentless: “You missed her? You were so concerned that you visited her for hours when she was stuck as a little girl and couldn’t even remember you? How upset would you have been if it took longer for the spell to break?” She wasn’t raising her voice, but there was an aggressiveness to these rapid fire questions.

He winced as he remembered the nightmare he had about that last scenario. Something triumphant sparked in Parkinson’s eyes and she said, “You don’t have to say anything. I can see the answer to that last one is very. But why? You barely know Daphne, so why does it matter to you if she just went away?” The conversation was ending towards a tipping point, he could sense it, and he resisted, as much of a reaction to her baiting him as it was to avoid confronting something else.

His eyes flashed. “I care about her.”

“Obviously,” she sniffed. “Or I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you, Potter.” Merlin, he supposed even a Pansy trying to change for the better was still Pansy fucking Parkinson. “But do you care about her as just a friend, or something more?”

The words echoed in the suddenly silent classroom.

Did he? Ron had made it clear that he thought Harry fancied Greengrass and Hermione had said as much without saying anything at all. Now Parkinson was confronting him. But did he? After being thrown together in class, he’d been surprised to find that he liked her, enjoyed talking to her and he wanted to keep on doing that, and alright he’d be lying if he said he didn’t think she was good looking. But….but…

Harry was not experienced with relationships and the two girls he’d had feelings for in the past - Cho and Ginny - had been different. His attraction to Cho had hit him hard and fast and his feelings for Ginny, when he’d noticed her as someone other than a friend, had been sudden and strong. Things had been awkward at first with Greengrass, but then went on nicely, steadily and she’d been creating a place for herself without him even noticing. Was that enough?

“I don’t know,” he admitted, breathing out slowly.

“Figure it out,” she ordered him, sharply but not as unkindly as expected.

* * *

Hours later, he was still brooding over things. Harry had tried to put it off, act as normally as possible, but he wasn’t a good enough actor to fool his best friends. They’d noticed as well - as quickly as he had - that while most of the Slytherins were back now, there were two notable exceptions: Greengrass and Parkinson. (And Madam Pomfrey from the staff table, but McGonagall had informed them all that a replacement mediwitch would be running the hospital wing for the week as Madam Pomfrey was taking a well deserved break.)

Harry was trying not to be inexplicably irritated that she hadn’t come to dinner. He knew it was good, her absence was giving him space to think, but it would have been nice to see for himself that she was fine.

“Are you alright?” Ron asked, staring at him from across the table. Next to him, Hermione was watching him too.

Harry forced a smile that even he felt was unconvincing. “Why wouldn’t I be? Everything’s back to normal now.”

Ron and Hermione shared a look and Harry tried not to bristle; like he and Ginny, their romance might have ended but their friendship was too strong to die and, after so long, they had their own method of silent communication. Harry had it with them as well, but sometimes one of them could still be left out. Besides, he knew they meant well.

“I take it Greengrass is back to normal then,” said Hermione. It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah, she’s good - great even,” he replied hastily, too hastily. That was a mistake.

Hermione arched an eyebrow. “So why don’t you look happy?”

“I am,” he said defensively. “It’s great that she’s back to normal.” He’d said great twice now. “She was an adorable kid, but I missed her….I mean she deserves to be herself again.” Well, technically the small her was her being herself at that age, but it was clear what he meant!

“Right so told you she’d be alright,” Ron said finally, lightly. But there was still something serious flickering in his eyes and Harry knew this conversation wasn’t over.

And he was absolutely right, because as soon as the common room was mostly empty that night, Ron and Hermione had cornered him. “Alright, Harry, what’s wrong?” Hermione had asked. “And don’t try and say nothing. We all know each other too well by now to believe that.”

Harry stared down at the table. “Come on mate,” said Ron. “We’re here for you.” The _always_ at the end of the sentence was unspoken but understood _._

Harry sighed. “I think Greengrass is upset with me. She ran off on me after she turned back. She apologized but I’m not sure she liked that I hung out with her during this.” He felt guilty when he thought about what she briefly mentioned about her parents; she had definitely been horrified that he knew about the stuttering.

Hermione breathed out. “She’s embarrassed, Harry. You saw her while she was very vulnerable and - no, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have helped,” she added when he opened his mouth to argue. “But if it had been the other way around, if you’d been turned into a little boy and started clinging to her, you’re saying you wouldn’t be embarrassed after?”

Harry winced at just the thought. It would have been embarrassing and would have revealed too much about his own childhood. (Like he had gotten some clues about her childhood. Hello again, misplaced guilt.) “Point,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t get it, but I want to smooth things over.” And as long as he was admitting things, he also said, “And I had a conversation with Parkinson.”

“Yes I can see how that would be upsetting,” Hermione deadpanned.

He narrowed his eyes at her and she held up her hands for him to continue. He gave them the rundown of the conversation and Hermione nodded in agreement while Ron looked as if he was turning something over in his head.

“She’s protecting her friend. I get that” he said and then leaned forward. “Alright, I know how to solve this.”

Harry blinked. “You do?” Hermione looked curious, propping up her head with her arm.

“Did you know Greengrass dated that tall Slytherin bloke for two years? Nott? I heard that from a reliable source-“

“Was said source either Davis or Parkinson?” interjected Hermione with a smirk.

Ron waved her away airily. “Now, let’s say hypothetically, she and Nott picked up where they left off. How would that make you feel?”

“Not a bad idea,” said Hermione.

“Don’t sound too surprised,” Ron laughed.

Harry barely heard him over the roar of his own thoughts. The image of Greengrass and Nott was distracting him: Nott with an arm wrapped around her and her leaning up to kiss him. He was scowling now, hands gripping the sides of his chair tightly. “Is that likely to happen?” he asked slowly.

Hermione arched an eyebrow. “Would it upset you if it did?”

He nodded. He hadn’t expected it to, but he didn’t like the idea of her dating someone. He didn’t like the idea of her dating someone other than him, he realized.

“Well that answers that,” said Ron. “What are you going to do now?”

“I guess give her a couple days to see if she gets over things first. Then….well, I’ve always been good at thinking on my feet.”

* * *

Sunday passed without him seeing Greengrass once. (She was mostly in the Slytherin dorm, except for some points where she was in the kitchens. He might or might not have been checking the map for her.) He did see Astoria though who stopped to say hello. “She’ll get over it soon,” she told him comfortingly before running off to meet some other Ravenclaw girls.

(He also saw Harper, much to the other bloke’s regret. Harper had just noticed him when Harry had his wand out and aimed a Jelly Legs Jinx at the other bloke. He swore loudly which just made Harry smile.)

No, the first time he saw her again was in DADA class on Monday morning. Harry had actually beaten her to class, which had never happened before. Another thing that had never happened before?

She was almost late.

Greengrass walked through the door only two minutes before class was due to start. She hesitated when she caught him looking at her, before finally sighing and taking the seat next to him. She didn’t say anything as she pulled her textbook out of her bag, and he decided to turn some prior teasing back on her. “Cutting it close today, huh, Greengrass?”

For a moment, her mouth twitched as if she was going to smile.

Then she glanced at him and her expression faltered. She dropped her gaze and said, “I slept in. It happens.”

He didn’t have time to respond before the professor was calling for order. He looked at her out of the corners of his eyes a few times during the lessons, but she kept facing forwards the whole time. Then as soon as class was over, she was on her feet and walking out of the room before he could say anything.

This was how the rest of the day went and the next.

Harry was starting to get annoyed by Wednesday, but that was when Greengrass finally made her move. “May I speak to you?” she asked as she walked up to him, Hermione and Ron.

Before he could say anything, Hermione said, “I just remembered I have to go to the library. Come with me, Ron.”

He blinked at her. “Why would I...oh! See you later, Harry,” he said and the two walked away.

Yeah, thanks Hermione and Ron, that wasn’t being obvious. Even Greengrass winced slightly at their exit and if he had been in a better mood he would have made a joke. However, he was still a bit irritated at being ignored for three days and instead of answering, he asked, “Oh, so you’re talking to me again then?”

She closed her eyes and took a breath before continuing, “I apologize. That was unfair of me. I’ll understand if the answer is no, but I’d like to speak to you later. Alone. ” She spoke slowly, deliberately, and with none of the easiness that she’d had before. It hurt to hear it, but he took it as a good sign that she wanted to talk.

“Fine. After class,” he agreed.

“Black Lake,” she said and he nodded.

* * *

Instead of going to dinner, he headed outside and to the lake; he was actually able to get away quicker than he had intended, though he could see that Greengrass had still beaten him here. Her back was to him and she was speaking to herself, “No, that’s not good enough. Maybe: I am deeply sorry for inconveniencing...Merlin, no.”

Harry coughed to let her know that she wasn’t alone.

Her shoulders tensed before she turned around to see him. “Potter,” she said, slowly, carefully. There was a spark of relief in her blue eyes -probably because she hadn’t stammered on his name- and some of the tension left her shoulders. “You...you didn’t hear that just now did you?”

“Hear what?” He asked, feigning confusion.

“Nevermind,” she sighed. She glanced down briefly, he could almost see her shifting her head so her hair hid her face, before her head snapped back up. “I should have said thank you before now. You were very kind to visit me; it made me feel better at the time.” Her left hand curled into a fist and then uncurled slowly. “I am sorry if I guilted you into it without meaning to and-“

“Greengrass,” he started, but she acted as if she hadn’t heard him.

“-I’m sorry I didn’t let go of you that first night. And for everything after. I don’t know why...I knew better by that age to -“

“Daphne!”

That got her attention. She stopped short, blinking. “...yes?”

“It’s my turn to talk. I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but I really didn’t mind keeping you company. I’m not just trying to be nice, either. If I really disliked it, I wouldn’t have kept going.” Her mouth was opening but he didn’t wait for her to speak, instead he asked, “Why do you think it’s so impossible that I like spending time with you?”

“Potter-“

“Because I do. I genuinely like you as a person and I was worried about you the whole time.” Something flickered in her expression too quickly for him to register, and his stomach flipped. Ignoring it, he went on, “I didn’t know what kind of spell caused it or how long it was going to last. I was worried you were going to be stuck like that and have to grow up a second time.”

“Wait. That dream you said you had about not seeing a friend for a long time, that was about...me?” Her voice had hitched on the last word and the expression on her face looked torn between disbelief and wonder.

His face had grown hot. Harry hadn’t expected her to make the connection between what he said and the nightmare he’d told the little version of her, but she was smart. He could try and deny it, but he was no coward and he didn’t want her to doubt that she was becoming important to him even if they’d only started getting to know each other. “Yeah. You really made an impression on me this year.” That earned him a slow, but warm smile and his heart skipped a beat. How could he have been so oblivious to how her smile had started making him feel? “I didn’t expect to make more friends when I came back to Hogwarts and then I met you.”

“I didn’t either. I just wanted to get through this year as painlessly as possible, but you were surprisingly easy to talk to. That’s not something that happens to me all the time. Actually for a very long time, I hated talking. I’m sure you can guess why,” she said bitterly, mouth curving down. “I forced myself to do it until it didn’t feel like a chore anymore, until I didn’t stutter anymore.”

“I meant what I said before. I don’t think less of you now that I know you had a stammer.”

“Yeah, that was not an opinion my father or his social circle shared, which was made very clear to me growing up. What kind of witch could I even be if I couldn’t manage to say a spell?” Her expression had shuttered as she talked about it.

He paused before asking, “What about your mother?”

“More supportive than father, but very concerned about my stutter being blamed on her. She was the one who got me elocution tutors, but I was never sure if her determination came from wanting to prove father wrong or motherly concern. Oh I shouldn't be unfair; it was probably 80/20.” She laughed but there was no real humor in it. “Mostly my stuttering was just one more thing for my parents to fight about.”

He flinched at the reminder of how he learned about her parents. “Greengrass, I feel bad that I found out about this because of the spell. You should’ve been able to tell me if or when you wanted to. I’m sorry.”

She shrugged, though she didn’t meet his eyes. “Hey, it’s not like you were the one who turned my housemates and I into little kids. And it's not like it was some big secret; Tori and I grew up knowing our friends’ parents were gossiping about ours behind our backs.” Her voice turned more sardonic as she said, “For all I know, there could have been betting pools: 5 Galleons if one of them has a breakdown, 10 if one of them finally snaps and kills the other!”

He was looking at her in concern at this point but she waved him off. “Don’t give me that look, Potter. I already told you, I’m used to it, and this really wasn’t what I brought you here to talk about.” The fingers on her left hand twitched again as if she was going to make a fist but changed her mind. “I just wanted to say thank you for visiting.”

He shook his head. “There’s nothing to thank me for.”

“I’ll agree to disagree about that.” He rolled his eyes and she gave a small smile. “See you around, Potter.” She started to walk away and he thought about how easy it would be to just let her, to tell himself that he could say something another time, and he couldn’t do it.

“Greengrass!” She turned around to look at him and he could hear his heart pounding in his chest. “Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?”

Her expression was unreadable. “As friends?”

“I was thinking it could be more of a date.” He really wished he could have thought of something suave in that moment but he wasn’t a suave bloke and he would have mangled it anyway.

" _You_ want to go on a date with _me_?” she asked blankly.

He forced himself not to wince. “Do you see anyone else here?” He was hoping that would have gotten at least a smile out of her but she was only staring at him. “I’m sorry that I’m not very good at this sort of thing. It’s just when you weren’t yourself, I missed you a lot more than I would have thought. I thought it was just because you’re my friend, but it’s more than that.” She still wasn’t saying anything and he wished the Earth would just open a hole to swallow him right now. “I understand if you don’t feel the same way, but I had to ask.”

That was what finally got a response.

“I thought I lost my chance,” she breathed out. “I thought seeing me as a five year old would have killed anything you could have felt for me.”

“No, it just made me finally realize what I’d been missing practically since the first time you sat with me in class.” His chest was feeling lighter now and he asked, “So is that a yes?”

She had the nerve to actually smirk at him then. “Hmm, do I want to go on a date with my study partner? Let me think about it.” Greengrass closed the distance between them until there were only a few inches between them and he was breathing in the woodsy scent of her perfume. “Does this answer your question?” She leaned up and captured his lips with hers and he lost the ability to think.

At least he did until she broke away from him.

“I’m not sure I got that. Let’s try again.” He pulled her back in and kissed her and it took only a couple of seconds for her to respond in kind. They were both flushed and smiling when they broke apart.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for weeks,” she confessed and his smile widened.

“Was it worth the wait?”

“What do you think?” she asked back, smirking. She glanced back at the castle and said, “I should go before Tracey or Pans come looking for me. I...I’m looking forward to this weekend, Harry.”

It was the first time she’d called him Harry as the normal her and he felt a rush of warmth in his chest. “Me too, Daphne.” Her responding smile was nearly blinding and he looked forward to getting to know her more this weekend and after too if things went well.

He’d just have to make sure things went well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endings are hard. I must have changed things at least three times; in one version, Astoria loses her patience with them and basically locks them in a room to talk and in another Daphne was going to write Harry a letter before he tracked her down. Neither of those felt right, because I felt strongly it had to be Daphne who needed to approach him first. 
> 
> Daphne was interesting to write in this chapter too, because of needing to show that while parts of her personality can be similar to the younger version of herself while showing she’s grown up. Basically, I showed a little how the older, more confident Daphne could have come from the younger, shyer one. For example: her wanting to be an animagus came from little Daphne’s interest in animals (the Giant Squid, her family’s horses) and magical beings (ghosts, merpeople). This is actually the reason I’m really considering doing at least a two-shot of her point of you because that aspect really interested me. 
> 
> Also while reading it over, I realized people will probably think that Pansy saying “Daphne doesn’t like being chased” was an intentional Greek mythology joke. It was actually more of a happy accident.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who stayed with the story. I appreciate any reviews I’ve gotten.

**Author's Note:**

> I really needed a sillier story as a kind of breather from my other angst-heavier stories, both of which should be updated soon. This is only planned to be around three chapters.
> 
> Missing but can't fit it in because it's all in Harry's POV: Daphne kicking herself for almost calling Ginny Weaselette.


End file.
